


[It's_Been_a_While]

by Fragilister



Category: Watch Dogs (Video Game)
Genre: 30 years later, Feels, Friendship, Gen, Old Age, Old Friends, People Being still alive - AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:59:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fragilister/pseuds/Fragilister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chicago, year 2040. Old friends get reunited. Everything has changed and at the same time everything is the same. </p>
<p>"He wondered if Damien actually cared or if he just wanted to keep that small talk going. For a moment he asked himself why he was still willing to meet him, after all of this. His greatest enemy. His best friend. "</p>
            </blockquote>





	[It's_Been_a_While]

Chicago was grey and wet. Rain was pouring outside the coffee shop heavily.

Aiden was waiting for his tea and a piece of cake that he ordered. He picked up his oldschool smartphone with shaky fingers and squinted to look at the time, yawning. Damien was never a punctual person. It's been nearly thirty years and Aiden was sure that he didn't change in that matter.

He put away his phone on the table next to his soaked fedora and slowly took off his leather coat to put it down on the empty seat next to him. If Aiden was to speak to Damien, he wouldn't have him next to him. He needed to see him one wrinkly face to another, when they were talking. And oh, they haven't been talking in a long time.

When Aiden got a message from Brenks a while back, he thought it was a joke at first. To be honest, he never expected Damien to be alive for as long as Aiden managed. People like them died young. And yet they both coped with the discomforts of aging and mastered the ability of hiding from people who wanted to see them dead. It was much easier lately, as no one was interested in killing old men, thinking they weren't dangerous in any way.

Aiden knew better. After Blume fell, he started basically controlling this city. But no one knew. No one but Damien, who always had it all figured out. At least that's what he said in the messages he has sent to Pearce.

The bell hanging on the door clanged and Aiden looked up expecting Damien to walk in, limping as usual. Maybe with a walking stick. But definitely not like this. He looked again, just to ensure him that it was him, but he couldn't be more sure in that moment. Aiden knew that face too well, and even though Damien's wrinkles were sharper and his facial hair and the hair on his head were lighter grey than he remembered it, Aiden could never mistake these eyes. Sparkling with that usual playfulness and confidence, even thought Damien wasn't in a winning position on that wheelchair of his.

A wheelchair. A chair with wheels, the thing that Damien was so scared of most of his life. That at some point he will be bound to it. And yet there he was, not broken, with a wide smile as he said a few words to the middle aged man who was pushing his chair. The man just nodded in answer and got back out in the rain, as Damien rolled towards Aiden through the shop, lifting up his hand in a sarcastic gesture.

"Taa-daa! Now you see me, Aiden. It's been a while," he chuckled as he got up to Aiden's table and roughly moved the chair across from his former partner so he could fit his wheelchair between the table and the wall. "You look old."

The corner of Aiden's mouth twitched before he snorted and shook his head.

"I am old, Damien. Let's not focus on that," he said shortly and glanced outside. "Who's that?"

Damien smirked slightly. "Well, you won't believe me, but my son has just remembered that he does in fact have a father. So wholehearted of him, isn't it?"

The waitress arrived with Aiden's order and asked Damien if he wanted anything, but he just shook his head. When she went back to the kitchen, he reached over to Aiden's cake and stuffed it in his mouth. Pearce just groaned.

"After all these years?"

"Don't you Severus Snape me, kiddo," Damien muttered with his mouth full of stolen cake. "So," he begun after finishing the piece, seeing fear form on Aiden's face when the cake disappeared faster than he could ever imagine an old man disintegrate it, "what have you been up to? Hacking arcades? Pacemakers? Or maybe changing bingo numbers to your favor?"

"The last thing I hacked you've seen on the internet. Probably," Aiden rasped and tilted his head.

"You can't possibly mean you were the one who changed all traffic light down entire Western to purple?" he snorted when Pearce just smirked proudly before he took a sip from his cup. "You're so immature, old prick."

"It was a job. Let's not talk about it. How about you, reunited with your family?"

Damien leaned back in the chair and sighed. " _Family_. Marcus takes care of me just because he's broke. His mother died a while back."

Aiden ground his teeth and looked out through the window. "Sorry to hear that."

"I'm not very sorry. How's your sister? And that kid, Jacks?"

Pearce didn't answer for a while, just drinking more of his tea. He wondered if Damien actually cared or if he just wanted to keep that small talk going. For a moment he asked himself why he was still willing to meet him, after all of this. His greatest enemy. His best friend. And though he really wanted to avoid that question, it had to come earlier or later.

"She passed away last year. Cancer, the usual," he murmured. "Jacks refuses to talk to me, he hates me for leaving them."

"I'm sorry, Aiden."

"You should be. The Jacks situation is all your fault."

Damien sighed. "Let's not open up old wounds, please, Aiden. I missed you, partner."

Their gazes met and it was first then Aiden understood how old they both have gotten. He almost felt like leaving behind their old problems and fights to just talk about the present. But the present was even more depressing than the past.

"Why did you ask to see me?" Aiden asked looking straight into Damien's eyes, not breaking the contact.

"Isn't it obvious? We'll be dead soon. I want to know if you've forgiven me, dying will be a lot easier," Damien said softly and then reached for Aiden's teacup too.

Brenks just shrugged at Aiden's annoyed expression and then smiled, when he pushed the cup back to him.

"Forgiving is hard, Damien."

Damien stretched his arm and patted Pearce's shoulder gently. "Yet still possible."

Aiden smiled unwillingly and put his trembling hand upon Damien's.

"Still possible indeed."

**Author's Note:**

> Alright guys, I really needed this to happen okay. This is definitely not the usual thing I write, but well, it felt just right.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, guys!


End file.
